To be held alongside 13th International Conference on Advances in Experimental Mechanics, 29 -31 August 2018

Submission deadline: Monday 21st May 2018

Sponsored by

The Young Stress Analyst Competition YSA18 will take place alongside the 13th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics, 29 -31 August 2018 at the DeVere Grand Harbour Hotel, Southampton, UK.

The YSA competition is separate to the main conference programme and any competition entries must be different to accepted conference paper presentations. Conference presenters that meet the eligibility criteria are more than welcome to enter the competition with a separate submission and if selected as a finalist will have their conference registration fee reimbursed.

Competition formatEntrants are invited to submit a 1000 word summary of their work. The submissions will then be sent to an expert review panel who will judge all entries and select the 4 finalists who will proceed to the next stage.

The 4 finalists are then asked to present their work at a dedicated conference session where they are judged by a panel of leading industrialists and researchers from academia.The winners are announced, and prizes awarded at the conference dinner.

Prizes• All 4 finalists will receive a cash prize• Each of the 4 finalists receive free conference registration, B&B accommodation, lunches and refreshments over the three days of the conference, the welcome reception and conference dinner. Finalists also receive free membership of the BSSM for one year which includes a year's online access to the journal ‘Strain’ and reduced fees to attend the BSSM’s technical and scientific workshops/seminars

How to enterWrite a summary of up to 1000 words, stating the objectives, main results/discussion and conclusions of your work, with a maximum of 6 figures/tables. Entries should follow the YSA competition submission instructions found here. Please send the summary of your work and a completed Application Form to Dr Rachael Tighe, rctighe36@gmail.com to enter.

Entries are welcome from

• Final year undergraduate (or equivalent) students• MSc students• PhD students who have not submitted their final thesis at time of entry• Industry based personnel, within 4 years of first graduation

Full allowance will be made for the varying levels of experience of the applicants.

For more information contact: The British Society for Strain Measurement email: info@bssm.org tel: 07756915295

First Prize- Rodolfo Fleury, University of Oxford (UK) Second Prize - Luis Felippe Sese, University of Jaen (Spain) Runner Up - Faye Gillard, University of Southampton (UK)Runner Up - Haibin Zhu, University of Southampton (UK)

2012 Young Stress and Vibration Analyst Competition Winners

First Prize - Danielle Lowe University of Liverpool (UK)Second Prize - George Crammond, University of Southampton (UK)Runner up - Xiaohua Tan, University of Liverpool, UKRunner up - Jiawei Fu, Arts et Métiers ParisTech, Châlons-en-Champagne, (France) and Loughborough University (UK)

2009 YSA Winner Graeme Horne (pictured right) said "As a finalist in the Young Stress Analyst competition, I attended the 7th International Conference on Modern Practice in Stress and Vibration Analysis free of charge. This provided an excellent opportunity to present my research and meet academic and industrial experts within the field of stress analysis. To my surprise, I was announced as the winner of the competition at the conference dinner.Besides the prize money, winning has given me enthusiasm to start my PhD and allows me to keep up to date with the community through membership of the British Society for Strain Measurement. I would thoroughly recommend applying, you could be writing this next year!"

2008 YSA Winner Shamala Sambasivam said "It was overwhelming and exciting to win the young stress analyst competition while attending the 6th BSSM international conference. This is really going to benefit me both in the short and long term. I think that this is a great program that benefits and encourages young mechanicians to recognise their aptitude, work to develop them into skills and use these skills to accomplish goals. This recognition has given me confidence in my work and a boost for the final year of the PhD".

2007 YSA Winner Andrew Conway said "Taking part in the YSA competition has been a really beneficial experience and one that I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone thinking about entering. The competition was a great opportunity to generate interest in my research and to meet experts from academia and industry working in the field. Winning the competition has also given me the confidence and motivation to tackle the final year of my PhD."